Monica Kempski Short Paper #3

WGST199-01

Professor Uman

2/10/10

Harry Potter and the Homosexual Discovery?

J.K Rowling created one of the best selling series of the decade, Harry Potter. These books

can be deemed as simple children’s books, or complicated stories filled with lessons and hidden

meanings . These hidden elements make the stories achieve a richer scale, affecting all audiences-

young and old, male and female, and finally hetero and homo sexual. Although the homosexual

identity is not blatantly apparent in the books, it can be argued that it is implied and even praised

when the series is observed by an intense reader.

The article, “Heteronormative Heroism and Queering the School Story in J. K. Rowling’s Harry

Potter Series” by Tison Pugh and David L. Wallace contains many claims that homosexuality is

poorly represented in the Harry Potter series. In their article, the authors state, “Hero stories are

gendered as well as school stories, and the heroism demanded for the protagonist of these

narratives typically depends upon an alpha-male model of masculinity that systemically

marginalizes most other characters, especially in relation to gender and sexual orientation

difference”(261). Thus, the authors insist that the Harry Potter books promote the socially

accepted , or heteronormative ideal of heterosexuality as of gender. They support this claim by

identifying Harry as the ultimate masculine male hero. Harry never questions his sexuality himself,

which would lead him to stray away from the norm of society. In turn, the authors were guided to

believe that the books discourage homosexuality because a child reader may feel that because

Harry never questions his sexuality, it must not be okay to question their own.
 However, avid fans may want to refute the authors’ claims that Harry Potter discourages

homosexuality. In fact, the series’ author, J.K Rowling noted at a fan gathering that Professor

Dumbledore was gay. Although she does not specifically state that Dumbledore was gay in the

books, a devoted fan of the series could definitely pin point ample evidence of Rowling’s

declaration. For instance, Dumbledore is depicted with very odd clothing, claims he is interested in

knitting patterns. But the most apparent proof of his homosexuality stems from his relationship

with his male childhood friend, Gellert Grindelwald, whom eventually becomes an evil wizard. In

the last book of the series, there are letters that Harry reads that were exchanged by the two men.

Also, a woman comments on their friendship saying that “both [were] such brilliant young boys,

they got along like a cauldron on fire” (Deathly Hallows, 356). The novel also notes suggestive

evidence of their relationship through a wizarding biography that Harry reads,

“Neither Dumbledore nor Grindelwald ever seems to have referred to this brief boyhood friendship

in later life. However, there can be no doubt that Dumbledore delayed, for some five years of

turmoil, fatalities, and disappearances, his attack upon Gellert Grindelwald. Was it lingering

affection for the man, or fear of exposure as his once best friend that caused Dumbledore to

hesitate? Was it only reluctantly that Dumbledore set out to capture the man he was once so

delighted he had met?” (Deathly Hallows, 259)

With these passages from the books, a reader may analyze the bond between the two teen s

was certainly more than a friendship. Dumbledore being a very intellectual man finally found

someone of his equal level of brilliance. In disregard of this Gellert’s sex, Dumbledore became

infatuated with him. Eventually, he even hesitates to battle him for his evil deeds because of his past

feelings, and to protect this past lover from harm.

 As noted previously, Dumbledore was constantly regarded as a brilliant man and the most

powerful yet feared wizard that ever lived. Thus, he makes an honorable representative for the

homosexual population. With the character of Dumbledore, homosexuals are most positively

represented between the lines of the text.

David Nylun makes interesting observations in, “Treading Harry Potter: Popular Culture,

Queer Theory, and the Fashioning of Youth Identity.” The psychologist notes in his article that

Harry Potter is a giant parallel to the journey of a homosexual. Therefore, his assertion is compliant

with the claim that the homosexuality in Harry Potter is hidden and must be searched for. Nylund

claims that “cultural studies focus on media representations of race, gender, class, sexuality, and

nation has given me new tools to discuss the effects of racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism on

my clients' lives” (4). This means that by observing popular culture in the media, a person can draw

conclusions about the affects of traits among people that are considered abnormalities of society.

With cultural studies, he was able to draw the similarities between Harry and a homosexual’s

journey to finding out his identity. Through the informed-therapeutic approach, he was able to

utilize his cultural study by helping a boy identify himself as a homosexual, where he related his

situation to Harry’s in the books. In doing so, the series sheds a positive light on homosexuality.

The author identifies that Harry, the hero of the story, can be in comparison to a homosexual. This

will give homosexual readers the confidence that will give them the courage to be who they truly

are.

Both articles point to the fact that homosexuality is not clearly visible in the Harry Potter

series. However, if the reader delves deeper into the series itself, they will see that homosexuals are

indeed positively represented through the possible embedded sexualities of the story’s two central

heroes, Harry and Dumbledore. In turn, the series can help heterosexuals be more tolerant and

homosexuals be more comfortable with themselves as evidence in Nylun’s observations. Even

Dumbledore, a homosexual himself notes, “It is our choices that show us who we truly are far more
than our abilities. (Chamber of Secrets, 333). Hence, what a person chooses to do with their life

defines that person, rather than who that person is able to love. Here again, the Harry Potter series

casts off an optimistic light on homosexuality when a quote is analyzed to its deeper meaning.